Disney could use technology to "cobble together" voice lines for Woody in Toy Story 6, Tom Hanks has suggested.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Hanks said that Disney "could put together anything they want" using technology or AI — meaning that his past performances as Woody the cowboy could be repurposed, and his character could still appear in new Toy Story films released long into the future.
"Time is undefeated," Hank said, apparently referencing that he would not be around forever. "The question would be whether or not we could cobble together some version of me. Every word we have ever recorded in time in Toy Story is on digital media somewhere, so they could put together anything they would want."
While Disney owns the rights to all of Hanks' past work as Woody, the idea that a future Toy Story film could be completed without Hanks himself recording new lines seems extremely unlikely. (It would also rather go against the message of Toy Story 5, which suggests that technology should have some limits.)
Additionally, while Toy Story 6 remains unannounced, this weekend's huge opening box office opening for Toy Story 5 means that any future (extremely lucrative) continuation of the hit Pixar franchise will likely happen sooner rather than later — and with the original cast where posstible.
Indeed, Hanks did not seem to discount the possibility of Toy Story 6 happening when asked, though insisted it needed a "great" idea to justify its existence.
"If you're gonna do another Toy Story, it better be worthwhile," Hanks said. "It better be great. You better be examining some theme that is not just dragging it out because people like the title. I mean, it is a huge corporate business without a doubt, I'm not gonna discount that. But unless it's good, new, fresh, there's no reason to do it at all."
When could Toy Story 6 arrive? The Toy Story series has traditionally taken lengthy gaps between launches, such as the 11-year wait for Toy Story 3, and the further nine years until Toy Story 4. This year's entry took a further seven years to materialize, meanwhile. Pixar is certainly busy, too, with a slate of original movies and sequels coming over the next half decade which also comprises fresh follow-ups to Coco and Monsters Inc. But after that? It seems likely we haven't seen the last of Woody and the gang just yet.
For more on the franchise's future, here's how Toy Story 5 could have ended — until its story was changed, and the film's finale was altered.
Image source: Kevin Winter/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
